


I Missed You After the Mistletoe

by EnbyWitch



Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Party, F/F, Gay shenanigans, Impulsive Jojo, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9027094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnbyWitch/pseuds/EnbyWitch
Summary: The tags are pretty self explanatory. Jojo gategrashes a Christmas party and kisses Lil and disappears and they can't find each other for 2 months (mostly because Jojo embarrassed herself).





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jojo meets Lil and makes an absolute fool of herself.

_ Ugh, this party is boring. _

 

That was the recurring thought that had been echoing in Lil’s mind every five minutes for the last hour. It was a Christmas party her next door neighbors had decided to throw for the whole neighborhood, and her parents had made her go to despite her objections. She wasn’t a very social person, and knew for a fact that she was probably going to be sitting on her neighbor’s couch for the duration of the party, sipping eggnog out of a red Solo cup. Alone.

 

And she was right. While her parents and a few more older adults who hadn’t traveled out of town to see kin mulled about talking and laughing, she sat on her neighbor’s plush leather couch, downing her eggnog and wanting nothing more than to go home. Lil halfheartedly listened to the sounds of polite conversation mixed with Michael Buble’s mediocre cover of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ in the background, eyeing the door as she drained the last of the eggnog from her cup.

 

She could leave. There wasn’t much stopping her. If she could find one of her parents and let them know she was going home, she could leave. Then she could have the house to herself for a little bit and cleanse herself of this uncomfortable forced socialization energy.

 

Lil got up to throw her cup away and find one of her parents. The house was fairly large, one of those fancy two-story ones with like ten rooms and a ceiling that was ten feet over your head. The air was warm and smelled like apple scented candles, cinnamon scented pinecones, and pine trees everywhere Lil went, and to be honest it was kind of giving her a headache. It smelled too much like Martha Stewart’s idea of Christmas. It was overwhelming and only furthered Lil’s want to be gone.

 

She found the kitchen and threw her cup into the nearly full trash can, and turned on her heel, almost running into someone who suddenly appeared directly behind her. Lil squeaked, and skipped to the side, muttering an apology and scurried back into the main room before the other could reply. She kept her head down and eyes to the white carpet, a flush of embarrassment spreading over her cheeks.

 

Even though there couldn’t have been more than ten people attending this party, Lil had a hard time finding either one of her parents in the dimly lit, apple-cinnamon scented house. Either more people had arrived late or her parents had left without her. The latter didn’t seem likely, but as the minutes passed, Lil began to really believe it. After a few minutes with no sign of her folks, she elected to just leave.

 

As she walked through the archway leading to the door, she was stopped by a hand on her arm and a loud: “Hey! Hold on a sec!”

 

Lil sighed and turned around, a grumpy “I really don’t want to be here, please let me leave” look on her face. It faltered slightly when she realized that she’d been stopped by a rather cute blonde girl. She was wearing an orange button up sweater and jeans and Uggs, and had her hair in pigtails. It was hard to tell in the dim lighting if the girl had freckles or not, but Lil was pretty sure.

 

“You aren’t just gonna leave without adhering to Christmas law, are you?” the girl continued, crossing her arms.

 

Lil blinked. “What?” she deadpanned. 

 

The girl strained her wrist slightly to point her finger up. Lil flicked her eyes up, tilting her head back to see what the blonde was pointing to. She groaned quietly when she realized what Christmas-themed parasite her neighbors taped to the frame of the archway, and sighed. “Actually I was seriously hoping I could, but you aren’t gonna let me leave are you?” she asked tiredly.

 

The girl averted her eyes, suddenly shy. “Well… I-I mean… I wouldn’t tempt fate. I don’t want to end up on Santa’s Naughty list because I didn’t kiss someone under the mistletoe.” She shifted her weight nervously.

 

Lil raised an eyebrow. She could have sworn this girl was at least her age, unless no one told her that Santa didn’t exist and she was still blissfully unaware. “You know Santa isn’t real, right?” Lil said, starting to back up. “Ain’t nobody gonna care whether or not you kiss somebody under a glorified parasite.”

 

The girl’s eyes widened and she snapped her eyes back to Lil, stepping forward, and uncrossing her arms to grab Lil’s shoulders. “But what if he is?” she whispered fervently in a way that Lil had only heard conspiracy theorists speak. “It’s still bad luck to not participate in a holiday tradition like this.”

 

The girl’s urgency was starting to freak Lil out a bit. All she wanted was to go home, not hear the Christmas edition of the X-Files from some stranger at a Christmas party. “Okay fine I’ll kiss you if you’ll let me leave in peace!” she finally said in exasperation. “I’m sick and tired of this party and I think my parents left without me, and now you’re spewing some nonsense of Santa Claus giving a shit whether or not I participate in a tradition created by straight, white people?”

 

The girl flushed a red so deep Lil could see it despite the low lighting and she took a deep breath, leaning forward to smush her lips against Lil’s for barely a second before pulling back and babbling something that sounded like “I’m sorry. I just came to this party uninvited cause I had nothing going on and I almost ran into you in the kitchen and I thought you were cute and I was looking for an excuse to talk to you but I’m really awkward and wasn’t sure what to say and panicked when I saw you leaving I’m so sorry”. 

 

She let go of Lil’s shoulders and pushed past her, yanking the door open and fleeing into the cold. Lil stayed where she was for a moment trying to process all that. After it all clicked she turned and opened the door after the blonde, but couldn’t see anything through the snowy darkness. She didn’t dare go further than a few feet, and she had no way of knowing who that girl was either. She  _ had _ said she’d shown up uninvited, but who  _ was _ she?

 

Lil shivered and headed back inside. It was no use to follow when she couldn’t see two feet in front of her, and it was too cold anyway. Her house was literally less than a minute’s walk away so she hadn’t really dressed in more than her favorite sweatshirt. Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about that girl. She shows up to some random house, sees a person of interest and follows that person around trying to get up the nerve to talk to that person, sees they’re about to leave, babbles some superstitious Christmas nonsense, kisses that person in her panic, and runs out into the freezing cold in nothing but a flannel shirt and jeans?

 

She couldn’t help but wonder if that girl was okay in the head.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Lil found her mom serving herself another glass of some sort of Christmas flavored wine in the kitchen. Lil made it clear that she felt out of place as a teenager at a party with mostly older adults and expressed that she’d like to go home. Mrs. Nancy frowned, sipping her wine.

 

“I don’t know, Lil,“ she said with uncertainty. “I locked the house when we left…”

 

“Give me the key then. I’ll let you and dad in when you’re done.”

 

Mrs. Nancy’s frown deepened. “Are you sure you haven’t found anyone to talk to?”

 

“Mom, what would I have in common with someone your age?” Lil crossed her arms and gave her mother a look.

 

“Don’t be silly, the Jacksons from across the street are in their late 20’s!” her mom insisted, taking a long sip of her wine. “And don’t they have a little girl?”

 

“Mom, I’m 16!” Lil objected, throwing her arms up in the air. “And she’s 5! Practically a baby! And anyway,” she crossed her arms again, “they probably left her a babysitter.”

Mrs. Nancy laughed, “Fair enough.” She pulled her purse off her shoulder and rummaged around for a bit, eventually finding her keys. She handed the to Lil, who took them and turned to leave. Her mom reached forward to ruffle her hair as she turned around. “See you soon, honey.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Jojo, on the other hand, was immediately regretting her life choices. She had acted impulsively pretty much since she left her house earlier that evening, and it had continued in a downward spiral until now.

 

It hadn’t been her intention to gatecrash someone’s party, she just sort of… ended up walking into a house that reminded her of her own house? It was warm and welcoming and smelled great and gosh she was really thirsty and cold after wandering through the collective neighborhoods for an hour, and there had to be refreshments at a party, right?

 

She’d hung up her jacket in the coat closet next to the door as force of habit, and drifted over to the refreshments to get a cup of punch, when the hottest girl she’d ever seen passed by her, not even noticing her. Jojo was dumbstruck. The girl had dyed purple hair pulled up into a bun with a couple locks pulled down to frame her face. It looked amazing and mysterious in the glow of the twinkle lights. She was jealous; Jojo’s parents would never let her dye her hair in a million years. Not to mention the few extra piercings the girl had on her ears. She looked like the sort of person Jojo’s parents would never approve of, and Jojo was immediately smitten.

 

Jojo fidgeted with the cup in her hand and followed behind. She noticed that the purple haired girl had soft hairs that curled slightly at the nape of her neck, and as she paused in the kitchen doorway to throw her cup into the nearby trashcan, Jojo leaned forward to get a better look.

 

She observed that the girl had small freckles on the back of her neck, the very tips of her roots were beginning to show dark brown, before the girl quickly turned around, almost running into her. She squeaked and mumbled a quick apology, leaving a very flustered Jojo in her wake. Jojo’s face was flushed and she couldn’t move from where she stood for a good minute or two. She’d been caught too close and that was pretty embarrassing but the squeak the girl had made was overwhelmingly cute and Jojo was fairly certain her brain ceased functioning.

 

Jojo inhaled deeply and covered her face with her hands, quietly screaming.

 

_ Okay Jojo _ , she told herself.  _ You can do this. Go talk to her _ .

 

She didn't talk to her. She’d tried several times to walk up and say something,  _ anything _ , to the pierced, purple haired goddess in the green hoodie, but she always lost her nerve. Luckily the girl hadn't noticed her yet. Somehow…

 

To avoid looking like a creep, Jojo eventually inched back to the refreshments and hesitantly grabbed a cup of punch. She sipped it nervously, keeping an eye out for the girl and trying to think of what she’d say to her. She didn’t want to just compliment her. She wanted to get her name and number and follow her to the ends of the earth. She was so completely enamored with this punk rock princess that she would willingly fling herself in her path and give thanks if she were consequently stepped on in the process.

 

Gosh, she had it bad, and she didn’t even know this girl yet.

 

Jojo stopped running, and doubled over, panting. She’d left her jacket back in the coat closet of that house, but she didn’t dare go back to retrieve it. Her house was still another neighborhood over, but she was already frozen to the bone. Her parents were going to be mad that she was not only gone so long, but that she’d lost her jacket as well. But she couldn’t go back, not after embarrassing herself like that.

 

_ Oh well _ , she thought,  _ not like I had any particular attachment to that jacket anyways _ .

 

Okay, that was a lie. It was her second favorite Christmas jacket. It was really warm and had lights on it that lit up when you pressed a button, but she never really had the lights on unless it was dark. Like it was right now. She couldn’t see a thing. She didn’t have a flashlight, or a phone, but she’d asked for one for Christmas. She was 15 now, and everyone else had a phone, so why not her?

 

“Crap,” she muttered to herself. She started walking again, because she was starting to get too cold staying in one place. After a minute she started jogging, longing to get home faster.

 

_ Her lips were soft _ .

 

That thought crossed Jojo’s mind and she stopped jogging for a moment to cover her burning face with her freezing cold hands. She’d only kissed the girl for half a second, but Jojo had always been pretty observant, noticing small thing in short amounts of time. Or maybe her brain was just now catching up on past events now that she wasn’t constantly bombarded with feelings. She had no clue.

 

What she did know, was that she’d never see that girl again. She didn’t get her name, never mind her number, and it was fairly obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to follow the purple haired girl to the ends of the earth because of how mortified she was. The girl had looked at her like she was nuts while she was off rambling about Santa Claus and mistletoe. Jojo knew she’d made a fool of herself, and there was no coming back from that.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The house was cold and quiet when Lil got home. Not as cold as it was outside, but it was clear that her parents had turned the heater off before they left. She locked the door behind her and trudged to the heater unit to turn it on. It would be a while before the house warmed up, so in the meantime she made herself some tea and went up to her room.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Jojo managed to reach her house before she froze to death, but her hands fumbled on the door, stiff from the cold. The door opened suddenly and she stumbled into the house and into her mom’s arms. “There you are Joane- Wh- Where’s your jacket? You’re so cold! Come, let’s get you warmed up.”

 

Jojo was too cold to say anything, afraid to unclench her jaw. She let her mom guide her to the fireplace where a blazing fire burned and sat in front of it to thaw out. Her mom fussed over her, wrapping her in a blanket and handing her a cup of hot cocoa. While she sipped it, she tried to figure out what excuse to say that sounded plausible for coming home without her jacket. Snow melted off of her and she stared at the fire.

 

“I, um, accidentally left it. A-at, uh, a neighbor’s house?” she said, her voice shaking. Though whether that was from the cold or the poorly told lie was anybody’s guess. “I didn’t mean to, it… J-just k-kinda happened… I forget which n-neighbor though…”

 

Her mom hugged her. “Oh well. What matters is that you got home without freezing to death. Maybe one of our neighbors will come by with it when they see that you’ve left it. If not, check Craigslist. They should have a lost and found section, right?”

 

Jojo didn’t answer, leaning into her mother’s warmth. Yeah, maybe…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craigslist ads are basically romantic shitposts.

Lil was chilling on the sofa in her parent’s living room, on her phone, scrolling through tumblr. Her mom was in the kitchen baking cookies, and her dad was who knows where. At the store maybe? Lil didn’t care. That’s when the doorbell rang.

 

_ DING DONG _ .

 

Lil winced. Fuck, was that loud.

 

“Magill, honey, would please get that?” her mother called from the kitchen, “My hands are covered in flour.”

 

Lil grumbled and pushed herself up off the couch and walked to the front door, dragging her feet. She opened the door to find her neighbor standing there, holding what looked like a jacket.

 

“Ah, hello! I found this in my coat closet after that party I threw, and I’m wondering if it is yours?” They held out the jacket so that Lil could see the design, and almost right away she knew exactly who it belonged to. Only one person could own such an obnoxiously christmassy piece of clothing and accidentally forget it at a complete stranger’s house.

 

The blond girl in the orange sweater.

 

“...been walking around the whole neighborhood today and no one else has claimed it…” her neighbor went on. Lil shifted her weight nervously. She hadn’t gotten the girl’s name, and there was no way to find her unless maybe...

 

“Of course!” Lil blurted suddenly, cutting her neighbor off mid syllable. “That’s most definitely mine!” She reached out and took it, hugging it to her chest. “Thanks so much for finding it; Gosh, I’m such a scatterbrain, ya know? Always losing things… Well thanks for bringing it over bye!” She slammed the door in her neighbors face and turned on her heel, making a mad dash up the stairs to her room before her mom could even ask what all that was about.

 

She laid the coat on her bed and stared at it for a long time. She turned it over, looking for a name or a “If found please call” tag, but nothing turned up but a button to turn on the little lights. Well, that was gonna make this harder. But Lil was nothing if not determined to find the blond girl who had kissed her at that party. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and took some pictures of the coat, some with the lights on for good measure. Then proceeded to post the pictures everywhere she could. Her Tumblr, her Facebook, even, yes, to Craigslist. As memey as that website could get, maybe the girl would see it.

 

**I missed you after the mistletoe - w4w**

 

_ Dear girl who kissed me under the mistletoe, and then left, _

 

_ My neighbor found your jacket in their closet. I recognized it immediately as yours as no one could POSSIBLY own such an obnoxiously Christmas themed jacket other than you, who lectured me about mistletoe and the evils of ignoring a tradition that I frankly never even cared for in the first place. But maybe it was in the way you urgently whispered that maybe Santa did exist before kissing me with the awkward passion of a girl who had clearly never learned the finer arts of a kiss before babbling something I didn’t quite catch and booking it out the door before I had time to ask for your name, or your number, or how cute you looked in your orange corduroy sweater and Uggs, all shy and innocent that made me believe in keeping up a tradition that had clearly never been meant for someone like me. _

 

_ Anyway if you’re that girl, please text me so I can return your coat to you. _

 

_ Do NOT contact me with unsolicited offers.   _

 

Lil nodded to herself, adding the pictures and her number to that ad and posting the notice. Now all she had to do was wait.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Jojo stumbled across the ad looking through Craigslist on her new phone (that she’d gotten for Christmas) hoping that girl’s neighbor had put it up. The last thing she expected was for the purple haired beauty to be the one who put up the ad. Jojo dropped her phone in her lap in shock, recognizing her coat in the picture that came with the ad. She picked it back up after a moment ad read the ad, her face turning pink.

 

_ She thought I was cute? _ Jojo thought, reading back carefully.  _ She thought I was cute! _ Jojo confirmed internally, covering her mouth with a free hand and screaming into it. The pretty pierced girl thought she was cute and wanted to find her!

 

But then Jojo was reminded by her brain that she’d basically embarrassed herself. She could never face that girl, no matter how much she wanted to. It wasn’t just about her jacket anymore, it was about keeping some of her dignity. So though it pained her, she took a deep breath and closed out of the browser.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yessssss I did the thing I love the most! Including the reason for the title in the story! Also hi sorry I know I kinda abandoned this fic for a year but I'm gonna finish it if it kills me! One more chapter I think, then it's done!


End file.
